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Multimedia Framing of the Iraq War
Coding Guide
Thank you for your participation in this study. I hope that you too can learn something through your participation, and I’m grateful to have you be part of the study team.
Coding Philosophy:
This study has two purposes:
1) to examine how online multimedia stories are used by newspapers to frame coverage of ongoing news events in general , AND
2) to examine how these stories were used in 2007 coverage of the ongoing Iraq War in particular.
Most of the coding will be done at the level of the “multimedia story,” a unit which is frequently very clear to define, with some exceptions. A majority of the content that has been sampled for this study takes the form of either a photo gallery or an audio slideshow. Both of these article forms rely on a sequence of pictures to tell the narrative of the story. They are usually
presented in a linear format, starting with a title frame or picture, and allowing the viewer to navigate forward and backward. Sound and/or captions provide additional information to supplement the photos. In some cases, the gallery may be presented as a homepage with a series of thumbnail photographs.
How to code:
Please access the coding materials via the link provided:
www.wojdynski.com/multimediawar.html On this page, you will find a list of the stories that you have been assigned to code. Each story is numbered, and the number and title of the story serve as a hyperlink to that story. Open the story in your web browser by clicking on the link, or right click and select “Open in a New Window” or “Open in a New Tab” for ease of navigation to your coder page.
Once you have loaded the story, be sure you navigate through the entire story before you finish coding. Some of the variable may require you to keep a tally of the number of times a particular person is used or quoted in the story, and it is important to ensure the accuracy of these counts.
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In order to make sure that all articles are coded equally well, and to maximize the value of the data collected, please try to set fair limits when deciding how many stories to code at once. Because some stories will take longer than others, we have not defined a hard maximum
number, but we suggest limiting yourself to 2 hours of coding per sitting, and a maximum of two sittings per day.
Top Section: Story Information
The information in this section should be coded immediately after opening the story. If the story has an autop-play function, you may want to pause the story while filling in this information
Coder ID: Please use your first and last initial as your coder ID.
Coding Date: Please enter the date that the coding took place in MM-YY form (such as 11-24 for November 24).
Story Title: The title or heading used on the story page will be listed in the link provided on the coder page. When you open the article, there are three places to check to ensure the title is correct.
1) If there is a title or headline within the graphic, slideshow, or Flash presentation, list this as the title.
2) If step #1 yields no title, look on the rest of the Web page in which the story is embedded for a title.
3) If step #2 yields no title, look at the top (usually a blue bar) of your Web browser window to see if there is a title listed there.
Story Number: The Story Number for each article is listed as the first character(s) of the hyperlink to each story. Please enter the article number as listed on the coder page.
Source Number: The newspaper from which each multimedia story is linked is also listed on the coder page. When you open each article, check for information on the page that confirms that the source was listed correctly, and that the article that has loaded is the same one referenced in the link. Enter the source number from Appendix 1: Sources, provided in this packet.
Story Type:
There will be four types of stories analyzed for the purpose of this study .
If you find that a story included does not fit one of the five formats below, please check the field marked “other,” and describe the story format in your own words.
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Photo Galleries/Slideshows: Many news outlets have utilized this format for presenting extra photographic images and captions that do not have an accompanying text stories. These are often presented as a string of separate HTML pages (one image per page) that maybe viewed in a pre-set order by using Next/Previous navigation, or out of sequence by clicking on buttons with the corresponding number of the picture.
Audio slideshows: An alternate image slideshow format involves the use audio that plays underneath the images. Because the central narrative is organized around this audio, these stories usually will play through from beginning to end unless users choose to pause them. Many audio slideshows are done with the same template, and will have a navigation that resembles the image below.
Example of typical audio slideshow template (SoundSlides).
Interactive graphics: These features are interactive versions of info graphics. Usually used to convey visual diagrams, interactive graphics allow users to navigate through different
perspectives, and click on a particular area of the graphic to receive further image, text, audio, or video information about the specific content there depicted. The primary interface for info graphics is usually one diagram or drawing, with parts of drawing functioning as hyperlinks.
Interactive packages: Often labeled as “special report” or “interactive feature,” these stories provide a comprehensive structure for integrating any one or more of the above media forms, standalone video, text, audio, and animations. Unlike the other formats, interactive packages often comprise several different narratives that may be thematically related. Interactive packages usually feature a menu or navigation bar included in the story, which allows the user to select which segments to view, and in what order. These presentations often add value to the individual components by incorporating meaning to the navigation, such use of a map to locate five clickable stories about towns in a geographical region.
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This variable asks you to assess the level of control the user has over the content in the story. The three answer categories are described below.
Low: If the story does not allow the user to control the content by clicking, and/or plays automatically from beginning to end, this category should be selected. Offering a “Pause” button, but no other navigation, is also an example of low user control.
Medium: If the story allows the user to move in a controlled but linear fashion, code the story as having medium user control. The most common navigation elements in stories at this level will be arrow keys, or “Next” and “Previous” or “Back” buttons.
High: If the story allows the user choice over the order in which s/he views the story elements, it should belong in this category. One example of a high user-control story is one that uses a menu of thumbnail pictures to load full size pictures and captions.
Hidden/optional features:
If a story features a thumbnail menu that can be accessed from any frame, either by clicking or by mousing over the navigation bar, code as HIGH user control.
Section A: Depiction and Quotation
A1. Use of Sound
If there is no sound in the story, mark “no sound.” If there is sound, there are two decisions to make in choosing the proper category.
First, you must decide if the story has narration. A story features narration if a subject’s or reporter’s voice is used to provide an ongoing description of present or past events. Secondly, if there is narration, you must determine whether it’s provided by the subject or by the
reporter.
If there is no narration, you must code the use of natural sound. If no subjects are shown or heard describing the events (for at least one whole sentence), code “natural sound only.” If subjects are included in with the natural sound, code “natural sound and subjects, no narration.”
EXAMPLE: An audio slideshow opens with a priest reading at a soldier’s funeral. Then the story cuts to sounds of people exciting the church. Later, the soldier’s wife is seen talking directly at
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the viewer, describing the story of how her husband died. This should be coded as Natural sound and subjects, no narration.
A2. Subjects in the story: Depicted and Quoted
These variables are about the primary subject of the story. Place a checkmark next to any of the groups of individuals that are depicted or quoted in the story. Depicted, for the purpose of this study means having any part of their body shown via static or moving image. Quoted, for the purposes of this study, means having their words directly represented via text or sound.
A3. Do any subjects in the story refer to the purpose or objective for War: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)
For this variable, check the appopriate subject category if s/he mentions any of the purposes listed below (in A3B), or any other purpose that can be interpreted as justification for the United States’ invasion of Iraq or ongoing presence therein.
A3B. Purpose of Objective of War
Please check any of the following if they are mentioned in the story
anti-terrorism -- mention of September 11, World Trade Center, Al-Qaeda, or other terrorist organizations etc.
anti-weapons of mass destruction -- mention of WMD, nuclear weapons, biological warfare, etc.
Iraqi liberation from Saddam Hussein – any explicit mention of Hussein, or mention of human rights abuses under Hussein.
rebuilding Iraq after initial destruction – any mention of setting up infrastructure, transitioning from American to Iraqi peacekeeping forces, training Iraqi troops, setting up new Iraqi
government, etc.
A4. Does the article mention of extended or repeated tours of duty for U.S. military personnel?
This may be mentioned without using the phrases described above, and is as likely to be mentioned by the reporter as by the subjects of the story. Other words to watch for include “redeployment.”
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Blame for the duration of the war is most likely to be mentioned by subjects within the story. Mark a “yes” for the category only if there is a statement directly mentioning
Section B: Framing Variables
Dominant Textual Frame
Scholars studying press coverage of wars, and even of the Iraq War in particular, have found that news stories about the war tend to rely on particular thematic structures. Use the definitions below to identify which of the following BEST describes the story:
Military Conflict Frame – emphasizes military action taking place in Iraq, either between formal armies, or between U.S. troops and insurgents.
Violence of War Frame – focuses on destruction of property, death, and injury during the war. If a story focuses on death and injury by profiling one or several victims in-depth, code as human interest instead.
Human Interest Frame – An emphasis on the personal stories of human participants in the Iraq War.
Rebuilding of Iraq Frame – A focus on the rebuilding of social infrastructure and buildings in Iraq, as well as the establishment of social order.
Reponsibility Frame – The primary emphasis of the story is on the resolution of the war, long- term effects of the war, anti-war protesting, or predictions about war progress over a future course in time. Stories profiling individual protestors should be coded as human interest. Distinguishing Between Human Interest and the other frames: Stories on a given subject may be frames as human interest stories or as one of the other frames, depending on the particular story. For example, a factual news story about a war protest should fall under “responsibility,” while a story that focuses on one or several participants discussing their reason for participating in the protest should be coded as “human interest.” Similarly, a 10-image slideshow depicting ten different wounded/killed persons, without other context for their lives, should be “violence of war.” On the other hand, a 10-image slideshow that focuses on three wounded/killed persons, and their recovery or their families’ struggles in the wake of their death, should be coded “human interest.”
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The main distinguishing factor in such coding decisions should be whether the story primarily serves to highlight individuals involved in a larger news story, or whether the focus is on reporting information, with the individuals serving simply as exemplars.
Dominant Visual Frame
Scholars studying press coverage of wars, and even of the Iraq War in particular, have found that news stories about the war tend to rely on particular thematic structures. Use the definitions below to identify which of the following BEST describes the story:
Military Conflict -- Combat – Military action depicted via scenes of combat.
Military Conflict -- Downtime – Military action depicted via scenes of soldiers in Iraq not engaging in combat.
Violence – Property – Images are primarily scenes destruction of property, death, and injury during the war. If a story focuses on death and injury by profiling one or several victims in- depth, code as human interest instead.
Violence – Corporeal -- Images primarily depict damage done to human bodies that were killed or injured during the war.
Human Interest—Soldier Before and During War: Images are primarily of a soldier’s life before going to war, taking part in training, and/or in Iraq.
Human Interest—Soldier After War: Images are primarily of a soldier on U.S. soil after returning from Iraq
Human Interest – Civilian: Images primarily depict non-military personnel, including, but not limited to, families of U.S. soldiers, U.S. government officials, Iraqi citizens, and/or anti-war protestors.
EXAMPLE: A slide show that mainly features pictures of a family waiting for their son/husband to arrive at the airport, followed by several of him hugging his family, would be coded as human interest – civilian.
Main Subject of Human Interest Stories
This variable is only for stories that had “human interest” as one of the above two categories (dominant visual or textual frame).
When choosing a category for this variable, keep in mind the geographical setting of the story. If the story is about a soldier in the U.S. preparing to leave, it should be coded
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“preparation/training.” If it is about one or more soldiers’ actions in Iraq, it should be coded “combat in Iraq.”
If the story is not about soldiers at all, it should be coded one of the last two categories (anti- war protest or government proceeding related to war), or “Other.” If you code a story “other,” please supply a description or summary of the events in the story.
Time
This section asks you to judge the primary time frame of the story you are coding. Stories that are predominantly focused on previewing future events should be coded as future. Stories that are referring to a period of time that is not recent to when the story was published will should be coded as past.
Go through the story looking for events that took place or will take place at an identifiable time. Choose the time frame option that best captures the predominant time focus of the story. Examples:
A story looking back on the initial Iraq invasion on its 4-year anniversary. Code: past A story about a soldier’s funeral, focusing on his family’s mourning. Code: present
A story about a soldier’s funeral that chronologically recaps milestones in his military career. Code: past
Distinguishing past v. present: Many stories rely on language such as “last night” or “last week” even when covering news stories that are relevant to the present. However, if a story is set in a particular time frame that is closed – i.e., “last November” or “2003 invasion” – or if it focuses on events in a soldier’s life prior to his deployment, or prior to her death—code as “past.”
Space
Please use the definitions below, from Chyi and McCombs (2004):
Individual level: A news event is framed within a scope limited to the individuals involved in an event (e.g., a crime story featuring the particulars about the perpetrator);
Community level: A news event is framed as relevant to a particular community (e.g., a story on a recent tution increase focusing on student reactions), up through and including one particular metropolitan area.
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Regional level: A news event is frames as relevant to a more general population, such as residents of a multi-city area, or a state (e.g. A debate about the location of a new airport in a city)
National level: A news event is framed in terms of social or national significance (e.g., a story associating the O.J. Simpson case with racism);
World level: A news event is framed from an international perspective (e.g., military action in a foreign country analyzed in terms of power relationships among different countries).
Distinguishing National and World: If the story is solely from a U.S., or solely from an Iraqi perspective, code as “National.” If it includes quotes from both Americans and Iraqis, OR talks about outcomes for the U.S. and Iraq, OR certainly if it mentions other nations, code as “World.”
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Source Numbers
Newspaper Name
Akron Beacon Journal 73
Albany Times Union 79
Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon) 63
Arizona Republic (Phoenix) 12
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press 70
Atlanta Journal-Constitution 13
Austin-American Statesman 31
Baltimore Sun 34
Birmingham News (al.com) 57
Boston Globe 6 Boston Herald 35 Buffalo News 76 Charlotte Observer 44 Chicago Tribune 8 Cincinnati Enquirer 28
Commercial Appeal (Memphis) 81
Contra Costa (Calif.) Times 65
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) 83 Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) 91
Dallas Morning News 15
Dayton Daily News 74
Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester) 78
Denver Post 33
Des Moines Register 69
Deseret News 55
Detroit Free Press 21
Detroit News 24
El Paso Times 97
Florida Times-Union (Jax, FL) 71
Florida Today (Melbourne) 93
Grand Rapids Press (mlive.com) 36 Greensboro News & Record 100
Greenville (S.C.) News 94
Hartford Courant 62
Honolulu Advertiser 64
Houston Chronicle 10
Indianapolis Star 41
Journal News (Westchester Co., NY) 85
Kansas City Star 37
Knoxville News Sentinel 72
Las Vegas Review Journal 38
Lexington Herald-Leader 68
Los Angeles Daily News 30
Los Angeles Times 5